Pigeons and Avian Flu: Do Americans Need to Worry?

If you haven't heard about avian flu or bird flu, also known by a host of other names — H5N1, H5N2, etc., you're probably not the only one. Thankfully, this zoonotic disease isn't prolific in the United States, although it has taken other parts of the world by storm. The disease itself is said to have originated in Asia, but has now been noted in many countries around the world.

The different ‘names' of the virus dictate different strains of it. H5N1 is the one that causes the most problems, proving fatal to almost all birds who contract it. Just as the name would suggest, H5N1 (and various other strains) are an avian influenza type, and a highly pathogenic one at that. Birds can pass along the virus to other animals, including mammals — humans, and the very first case (that we know of) was back in 1997. Since that point, only forty percent of people infected with the virus have survived.

You CAN pass avian flu — H5N1 — to another human if you are in very close contact with that human, but it is not an easy process. There have actually been very few cases of this virus being passed from person to person in the same ways that ‘regular' flu makes its way around. Cases that have arisen have been as a result of incredibly close contact with the infected person. One case in Indonesia showed seven out of eight family members becoming infected with - and then dying from - the H5N1 avian flu virus. It is not understood, however, whether the family gave each other the virus, or whether they were all unlucky enough to contract the virus from working in the same conditions — around the feces of infected birds.

Unfortunately, humans aren't the only animal who can catch the H5N1 virus from pigeons and other birds. (Waterfowl are known to be one of the worst culprits.) Donkeys have tested positive for the virus, as have pigs and many other bird species. The virus has also managed to spread a fair distance around the world, and has become a very big concern for populations in Vietnam, Egypt's, India, Indonesia, China, and Bangladesh.

But does America need to worry?

At the moment ... no. America (and its citizens) do not need to concern themselves too much with avian flu. Various strains of avian flu have been noted and studied across the USA, although these do tend to be slightly different strains and NOT the one that can affect humans. In 2014, for example, wild birds in Washington tested positive for an avian flu virus strain, but the H5N1 strain was ever-so-slightly different from the one that originally started out in Asia. After being investigated, the entire flock was euthanised to prevent the spread, and the virus was never passed along to any humans. It is not thought that the different strains could affect humans in such a powerful way.

Other strains of the virus have been noted in places such as Texas, but again, these strains either didn't get the chance to affect humans, or simply couldn't.

There are ZERO cases of avian flu affecting humans in North America, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't still be vigilant and remember all of the other diseases that pigeons CAN bring with them.